Can the communications department be abolished? In Communication Now, Big Book of the Communications Profession, over 100 writers examine the changes in the profession. “You have to keep your own boat watertight.”
“I tried to rebook my flight twice with Facebook and Twitter when the phone lines at the airport were busy. Save yourself the trouble, it won’t work.” Frans Cornelis , head of marketing and communications at employment agency Randstad, doesn’t have high expectations of social media. Lady Gaga, who has 53 million likes on Facebook: he doesn’t think it adds much to the business. It’s a snake biting its own tail: the lack of control over massively expressed dissatisfaction on the Twitterers of this world can only be remedied with a good product and a good reputation. “Having your own boat watertight,” he calls it.
Cornelis is one of the few with nice idiosyncratic quotes. Because what is striking in Communicatie Nu, Grootboek van het communicatievak is that the sector seems to keep itself in line with policy frameworks, lists, boxes, levels, segments and (English) container concepts. The four C's for example. Are you familiar with them: counseling, coaching, conceptualization and creation? belgium telegram data Or your educational advisory role? Or sentences like: "communication management is the specialist function within or for a public or private organization, which is concerned with initiating, directing, supporting, slowing down and facilitating communication and information processes, in the context of the organization, and from the perspective of the functioning of the organization [...]"?
A bit lame of course, because such a lust for definitions has to do with the background of editor-in-chief Betteke van Ruler , professor of communication science. Hence the relatively large number of articles and writers that come from science, administration and policy. Analyses of and control on reality (the practice of the profession) are thus classified, named and labeled.
Presentation Communication Now, 2nd from the left editor-in-chief Betteke van Ruler
That does not make all articles equally exciting coffee table reading, but studious material. The makers call it a “subject-matter glossy”, but you can still see the solidity in the splash-free design that neatly supports the text. The content and form do not make communication seem like a colorful and dynamic profession that is constantly in motion. In one of the five themes or chapters in the book ('Trends in the profession') it is not about the latest trends such as interaction, but about evergreens such as inspiring even more confidence as a brand and as a leader.